LATEST URBAN LEGEND OUT OF JAPAN/KOREA

I stumbled across this one at "About Joel," a blog written by an expat in Korea (scroll down for the discussion of the UL):

In class, several of my girls were near tears about the latest urban legend to surface its ugly head in Korea. “빨간 마스크” (“Red Mask”) is the name and apparently it’s an imported urban legend from Japan. The rumor has it that a person, who had an extremely small mouth, had their mouth sliced (ripped) open from ear to ear in a botched plastic surgery. The person, who donned one of those masks you see doctors, old people, and the SARS paranoid wearing goes around killing people in an odd manner. The person will ask, “Am I pretty?” If the victim (apparently elementary school kids) says yes the mask is ripped away showing the gaping wound from ear to ear. The Red Mask then asks, “Even like this?” Apparently those who respond that the Red Mask is pretty are killed by receiving a gaping wound from ear to ear to match the Red Mask’s. Those who said the Red Mask is not pretty have their throats slit.

From Japan to Korea